Ocean, nature, critters, and recreation

Dec 07, 2018

Scott Eastwood enjoys up-close orca encounter while paddling off Baja

By Pete Thomas

Scott Eastwood has been vacationing in Baja California, Mexico, and a highlight has to be the actor’s close encounter with orcas as he paddled with a friend in the Sea of Cortez.

Eastwood, son of legendary actor Clint Eastwood, explained Thursday on Instagram that he and companion Parker Moran had stopped “at some random beach along the coast of Baja to get a beer, and while eating lunch saw a group of orcas out in the bay.”

They ventured out on a standup paddleboard and the sleek mammals were elusive “until [Moran] started making orca noises and slapping the water with his paddle,” Eastwood wrote.

“They turned around and came in to check us out!! Dory was right. We do speak [whale].”

In the footage, the orcas appear directly beneath the paddleboard and Moran notes, “They’re biting our fins,” referring to the stabilizing fins beneath the paddleboard.

Moran is attempting to speak orca and both paddlers are laughing, a bit nervously, throughout the encounter, which is understandable.

Eastern Tropical Pacific orcas, or killer whales, are found throughout the Mexican Pacific, including the Sea of Cortez, where they’ve been known to surf wakes created by boats and approach freedivers.